Court says Oakland's billboard removal legal

Oakland acted legally last year in removing a commercial billboard that was visible from Interstate 880, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco may be the last word in seven years of litigation over a large sign that Desert Outdoor Advertising installed in 2002 on East Ninth Street, alongside the freeway and near the Fruitvale BART Station.

Oakland officials told the company to remove the billboard or apply for an exemption from city ordinances that banned most new commercial signs visible from freeways and restricted them elsewhere. Instead, the company went to court in 2003, arguing that the ordinances violated freedom of speech.

A federal judge overturned some of the city's regulations but upheld the freeway ordinance, which allows a roadside commercial billboard only if it advertises a business at the same site.

With an Alameda County judge's approval, the city then took the billboard down early last year, and Desert Outdoor returned to federal court to challenge the action.

In a brief 3-0 ruling Thursday, the appeals court said the ordinance prohibiting billboards near freeways was constitutional and authorized the city's action.

Alan Herson, a lawyer for Desert Outdoor, said no decision has been made yet on a further appeal. He said it was puzzling that the company had persuaded the courts to over turn some of Oakland's billboard restrictions but had nothing to show for it.